Kangata, a tactical politician or an opportunist?

Muranga Governor Irungu Kangata’s calm demeanour hides his shrewdness in politics, but it has also divided critics on whether he is a tactical politician or an opportunistic fence-seater who jumps to join the popular political outfit for political survival.

Since 2002, when he joined politics to vie for a Councillor for Central Ward in Mūrang'a Municipal Council, Kangata has never lost an election, a fact that those who view him as a master gambler say he has always understood when to shift allegiance to align with popular sentiment.

While critics may term his actions as those of a self-seeker who places immediate, selfish advantage above principle, his supporters and a section of political analysts view him as a cunning politician who reads the political landscape early and aligns with his electorate.

From being a Councillor in the defunct Muranga County Council, Kangata went on to vie for the Kiharu parliamentary seat in 2013 and in 2017, he successfully vied for the Muranga Senatorial seat. In the 2022 general elections, he was elected Muranga County boss.

Since he joined politics, his exit from his political affiliation has been loud and marked by public statements. In 2002, he was former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s point man in Muranga.

Uhuru was KANU’s Presidential candidate and was facing the third President, the late Mwai Kibaki, who vied under the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc).

A day when he was mobilising for Uhuru to visit Muranga, Kangata changed his mind and ditched Kanu for Narc, saying he had listened to the elected and that the mood on the ground was ‘Kibaki tosha’.

In 2013, he quickly changed his party and joined Uhuru’s The National Alliance (TNA) and this earned him the parliamentary seat. In 2017, he shifted to the Muranga senatorial seat under the Jubilee party and ousted a political bigwig, Kembi Gitura.

During the 2017 general election, Kangata used the political sloganeering ‘Ni Kenyatta na Kangata’ to show his closeness with Uhuru and to sway the masses to his side in a scheme to counter the narrative that Gitura was Uhuru’s buddy.

 When Uhuru fell out with his then Deputy, President William Ruto in 2018, it was Kangata who effected the House leadership changes by removing Ruto's allies in key parliamentary committees for failing to toe the party line.

 In 2020, Kangata, then Senate Majority Whip, oversaw the Jubilee Senate purge that saw Deputy President Kithure Kindiki (then Deputy Speaker), Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen (then leader of the majority party) and Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika (then Majority Whip removed from their positions.

Other Senators who were axed from their chairmanship of powerful Senate committees, thanks to Kangata’s purge, included Samson Cherargei (Nandi), John Kinyua (Laikipia), Mithika Linturi (Meru) and Senator Christopher Lang'at (Bomet).

 However, after reading the mood of the people and realising that Uhuru had lost ground among his region, Kangata went ahead and wrote the infamous letter to the former President Kenyatta on December 30, 2020, telling him that Mt Kenya region was opposed to the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).

It was a big surprise that he was now opposed to a document Uhuru had jointly launched with his preferred Presidential candidate, the late ODM leader Raila Odinga.

Before authoring the letter that earned him a political moniker, Kangata Wa Barua, from Ruto, he had crisscrossed the country marketing the BBI bill, which sought to amend the 2010 constitution to provide for, among other things, the one-man-one-vote-one-shilling clause.

 Following his fallout with Uhuru, predictably, Kangata joined the UDA party, 18 months to the general elections and the move attracted praises from Ruto, who described him as a fearless and truthful man who spoke truth to power.

“Kangata wa barua ni mtu safi sana, hana kesi na mtu, anachkea throughout hata ukimtukana anacheka tu akikuangalia, na ni mtu anapenda ukweli, unajua, watu wengi akiwa amepatiwa gari sijui ya chief whip, amepatiwa ofisi kubwa pale, watu wengi will comprise, na kusema wacha nikaekae hapa,  lakini huyu muungwana, wakati alipona hapa lazima kuna ukweli akasema wacha niandike barua, hio barua ikameleta matatizo lakini that is the test of a leader, kiongozi lazima useme ukweli iwe ngumu iwe namna gani lazima aseme ukweli,” Ruto said.

Ruto’s remarks may be loosely translated to mean “Kangata wa barua is a very clear leader, he has no ill will against anybody, he laughs throughout, even if you insult him and he likes being honest. Many people, if given government vehicles because of their position as chief whip, a huge office may comprise but Kangata is a gentleman; he chose to be honest. The letter has brought him issues, but that is the test of a leader: you must speak the truth, however difficult it is.”

Later, he turned Ruto’s comments into a TV sound bite and used it to promote his campaign, knowing very well that the region was fully behind Ruto and his UDA party.

Now, 14 months to the general election, Kangata is at it again. This time round, he has spoken to the party leader of the party that sponsored him to the governorship through a press conference and a litany of TV interviews, informing him that Mt Kenya is no longer at ease with his leadership style.

He is fully aware that Ruto is out of favour for failing to deliver on his many promises that he made before the 2022 presidential polls. He says the UDA party has repeated the same mistakes that the Jubilee party did, leading to UDA’s popularity in Mt Kenya region.

 “My point of departure with Ruto is the political strategy and policy s priority; how to deal with Mt Kenya and to ensure UDA retains the support. My boss and I had different points of view and we left it at that. There was no convergence of issues and strategies. I then allowed the party to make an attempt to execute that which they thought was a better strategy to deal with the issues. It's now about one year after we had that meeting. I see no change,” said Kangata.

 Kangata claimed Ruto and his allies also kept nudging him to endorse his re-election failure, to which he could sponsor a rival against him in next year’s polls.

It has also been alleged that Kangata, at some point, feigned illness to avoid Ruto’s meetings.

“It reaches a stage when the President is in Muranga when you are put into a corner to say something or to make a choice and if you don't, people start saying you're not a good person,” said Kangata.

He says some not-so-polite words were exchanged, where some people even told Ruto that he was not sick and was just feigning illness, which was not true.